Way Forward For Boeing

With the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing outbalanced Airbus in product mix innovation. Airbus reacted with the A350 that morphed into the A350XWB when it did not get market traction. But thanks to production delays on the 787 program, Airbus has clipped Boeing's 6 year product introduction advantage to just 2 years, assuming no A350 production woes also. The 787's success in the market was to a degree also a disadvantage in a market hungry for more efficient planes. Boeing had no 787 production slots available for more orders leading to an also robust order book for the yet to fly A350. With the 767 win in the USAF tanker competition, Boeing may leverage this to offer an updated 767 at big discount to sell to airlines that cannot get into the long 787 order line.

With the Airbus A320NEO, Airbus seem to be outbalancing Boeing in the large bread and butter single aisle airliner market. While it is accepted that the present 737NG has lower operating costs than the competing A320, the reengined A320NEO will surely beat the 737NG in operating costs. By how much remains to be seen.

The A350 is basically a 2 engine replacement for the A340 that got clobbered by the Boeing 777. It is also an A330 replacement in its shorter fuselage versions. Airbus had an excellent choice of size configuration in the A350 by basically positioning it between the 787 and the 777 and effectively competing with both with a single product. However, with Airbus' recent decision with the A350-1000 modification by lengthening, reengining and wing reforming, the A350 has basically morphed into 2 families. The A350-1000 is now configured to compete with the very successful 777-300ER, and the shorter A350 versions as A330 replacement and 787-10 competitor.

The 787 and 747-8 programs are completing its design-certification processes and going to production ramp-up. This will free a lot of design resources of Boeing that will open the way for refresh and/or new design aircraft programs.

If I were Boeing, I will implement the following:

1. A low cost reengining of the 737 that can cover the 757 replacement market for 2014

2. A 777-8 for 2018

3. 797 new design 737 replacement for 2020

4. 767NG from the KC-46 that is derived from a USAF milspeced KC-767I

AirPino - Multi Purpose Light Aircraft Integrating Rural Pilipinos

 


The Philippine Aircraft Industry has shown its capability to produce for the many and varied aircraft requirements of the country in the past. It has designed and/or fabricated various aircraft from the 1950’s such as the XL series of the 1950’s, the Islander, the S-211 jet, the Bolkow helicopter, the Defiant 300 and numerous others. As a developing country, the requirements for aircraft is increasing specially given the archipelagic and mountainous geography.

The AirPino Project is the local manufacture of a multipurpose light aircraft that can be used for

1. Rural Air Transport providing for Inter island, Cross mountain, Inter Province transport
2. Agricultural Functions such as rainmaking, aerial survey and monitoring, crop dusting
3. Private Users for executive transport, charter operations, recreational flying, skydiving, tourist transport
4. Promotion of forestry development through aerial reforestation of all bald and denuded mountains, monitoring of illegal loggers and log transport, and firebombing of forest fires
5. Protection of mineral resources through aerial monitoring of large mines and mineral transport
6. Environmental monitoring and protection of  rivers, bays, mine tailings, etc.
7. Government Functions such as liaison, VIP transport, aerial project monitoring
8. Export product to other developing countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia
9. Base for aviation industry development

Required for parallel development is the capability building for the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) for Philippine aircraft certification. This is necessary for the AirPino MPLA to be viable commercially. The CAAP will also have to enter into bilateral treaties with its corresponding organization in other countries to enable the export of Philippine-made aircraft to these countries.

Design Requirements

1. Designed for easy production and easy maintenance using modular construction
2. Plane configured to expedite exports to other developing countries
3. Use of composites for technology expertise development, including possible use of laminated bamboo
4. P10 million per unit bare cost objective
5. Adoption of low cost COTS technology for augmented VFR such as GPS, electro-optics, IPad
6. Preparation for other model configurations
7. 5 seats plus cargo minimum size, to 8 seats

Boeing 787 - Seattle to North Charleston Air Service For Durability Test

 Boeing’s fourth flight-test 787 flies past Mount Rainier early 2011 (Boeing graphics)

The Boeing 787 composite material design is very new at its size scale. Though composites have been used in Formula 1 cars, business jets, the Space Shuttle and other applications, the Boeing 787 is the first to use it at this size scale, and in barrel configuration.

The Boeing 787 is the first to composites as the de Havilland Comet was the first with aluminum, though aluminum-use in similar size aircraft was more widespread before the introduction of the de Havilland Comet, mostly in bombers. On composites, we also had the American B-2 bomber though not in a tube with wings configuration.

Being 787 Dreamliner No. 23 arrives in San Antonio for upgrades (Boeing graphics)

Most of us are quite familiar with the de Havilland Comet's history and we hope and pray that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will not follow the same pattern. It behooves the Boeing company to extensively and intensively test the durability of the Boeing 787, not only for its commercial survival but more for the safety of millions of future Boeing 787 passengers. But this is not to say that the Boeing 787 and other future mostly composite airliners like the Airbus A-350 are not safe. It is just making it more safe with more tests.

Boeing company should go beyond the FAA certification process by using the retained flight-test Boeing 787's,  like the Boeing 737 is utilized. It can use the retained flight-test Boeing 787's as an Air Ferry Service between Seattle, North Charleston, Chicago and other Boeing locations on a multi trip per day basis. Boeing can either form an airline, or lease it to an airline that will provide the service.

First 787 for delivery to launch customer ANA takes off 19Jan2011 Paine Field (Flight Global graphics)

By doing this, Boeing can collect a lot of data that can be used to optimize further the Boeing 787 design at a no-cost even profitable basis. These tests might even prove the Boeing 787 as a Boeing 757 replacement, and as proof for the use of the design on the future Boeing 797, the Boeing 737 replacement.